Steering Rack Bulletin Released!!!

[CaribMon71]

It should be a matter of pulling a fuse or two. At least on Lexus vehicles it is like this. But which fuse??????

[Bmore]

I'm having mine done as we speak. I had an appointment for a few days ago and when I came in they said they received the TSB and now are going to put a different rack on it than they had planned. They said there is a new part that Infiniti has specially designed for this issue, and that the other rack they were going to use would've probably not worked. They said come back in two days and the part will be in. So they're doing it now. I'll check the part number with them from this thread.

Re: Chris' posts. I do find that it interferes with my use of this board and the most pertinent topics when he goes through and comments on 20 topics each day. It totally disorients the board to his bent (topics of importance or interest to the majority of others get totally lost) and it is annoying and makes the board less useful for me. Don't want to dump on him, but thought it was good to point out that so many posts in so many threads disrupts the board and makes it less useful for people. I'm sure he didn't realize this. I'm just noticing it in response to his multitude of posts.

[mcube3]

Hello all,Can someone who've got this fixed kindly visit my other post and provide some feedback. zer...lacedI don't want to explain it here and defeating the purpose of the OP Cheers

[sergio1987]

hey guys, i know im kinda late...but i am in Toronto, canada, i have 105,000 km on my m35x from 2006...I got the steering rack problem, the dealership said basically to go F@#$%@ myself, infiniti the same....The part is 1000$ at least from what i understood .... WHAT CAN I DO?????? Does anybody know some nice dealership in toronto region, couse downtown infiniti is GARBAGE.... They wouldn't speak to me regarding this issue for TWO weeks...they said they were busy...RIGHTTTTT:( Anyway any options? PLEASE HELP

[JCL622]

i'm not entirely sure if i have this problem, or if it's due to some parts of the road i drive on regularly; but if this affects all cars made before 4/7/2009

and i picked up a 2010 model on 12/29/2009 - will it still be possible i have this problem?

i guess what i'm asking is if this TSB was recognized and fixed for all models made after the 4/7/2009 assembly production?

or is it still possible for 2010 models to exhibit this problem, and i should just bring it in to service.

[txgcoupe]

i'm not entirely sure if i have this problem, or if it's due to some parts of the road i drive on regularly; but if this affects all cars made before 4/7/2009

and i picked up a 2010 model on 12/29/2009 - will it still be possible i have this problem?

i guess what i'm asking is if this TSB was recognized and fixed for all models made after the 4/7/2009 assembly production?

or is it still possible for 2010 models to exhibit this problem, and i should just bring it in to service.

EX35s built before 4/7/2009

That should answer your question.

Mine was built 10/09. I don't plan on trotting it down to the dealer.

John

[SteveTheTech]

This noise is only noticeable on slow right turns. If there is a defined date on the tsb as there is with this one the chances of having an issue are slim but not zero. This might have been the day, or time when they changed orders or suppliers or model numbers whatever it may be something was slightly different in the two production runs.

I learned a while back (see the much older rack noise threads) that the way things actually work is they (corporate engineers) need more specifics than we in the field can supply them with. Once the can isolate the production run they can assess the number of units involved.

[ARK07]

Hmm, guess my wife isn't crazy. She told me just last night that when she backs out of the driveway, backout left, turning right when moving forward, she hears a noise and something about a viberation. Now I thought noise possible, maybe comming to a hard stop on the steering, but viberation, did'nt seem to relate. Now with the TSB, it all comes together, she turns a slow right to re-center and it's cold in the morning. Next time I'll have to believe her and make my appt when the parts come in.

[AWGD8]

I went for my 22K oil change last Sat. and I mentioned to my service adviser that when I`m coming down from our 5 level parking structures at work, while turning right, I could hear a noise or vibration on the front end. He said the mechanic will check it. After the oil change, he told me that he ordered the steering column parts. I guess mine is under the VIN# Steering rack TSB. I bought my EX35 on Sept. 2008. So parts came in Monday and I`m schedule to drop the car off next week (Tues.) Is it possible to ask for a specific loaner car? I would love to try the new G37X ...

[ARK07]

Had the new rack installed and alignment done, along with 2nd set of front rotors (& free pads)with updated backing plates this time, new front sensors all under warranty, so far, so good!! Infiniti been good to me so far!!

[AWGD8]

Mine got fixed also. NO more problem!

[CaribMon71]

Steve, I will definitely be coming in for this repair. The vibration I initially wrote about several months ago has only gotten more noticeable. I mostly feel it at work when I'm driving up or down our multilevel lot. The condition only presents itself when turning the steering wheel to the right. I'll email you with more information...

Thanks!

[CaribMon71]

Steve, thanks for a job well done! After replacing the steering rack, the vibration is completely gone. Driving the G37 while you serviced my EX35 was a lot of fun! Wish our cars were as responsive!

[morgan1130]

Sorry to bring this topic up again.
Just got my 2008 EX 2 weeks ago and I knew the issue before I bought the car, from this forum.
Mine doesn't vibrate much, it's a very gentle/light vibrate and almost feel like it's from tire's friction.
Also rolled down the window but I didn't hear it from outside.

Symptoms are:
Only vibrates when car moves from stop, and steer to the right, almost locked, low speed.
Last very short period of time, maybe 0.5 second.
Not happening every time.
When it's on flat surface or driving upwards.
Very gentle vibrate, I wouldn't be bothered if I didn't know the issue from you guys.

I am about to bring my car for service/replace telescope steering column (not moving up/down), should I also mention this to the dealer? If this IS the issue we are talking about, will it getting worse if I don't get it fixed now?

Thanks,

Morgan

[AWGD8]

I would bring it in and ask for steering rack replacement. You won`t lose anything since Infinity will provide you a loaner car...

[trevor-m]

I know this post is a little older...but I just bought a 2007 M35X in Canada and I am new to this page. I bought the car a week ago and noticed that there was a small groan when I turned right. I thought originally it was just snow buildup and thought nothing of it. However, the snow is now gone and the vibration remained. So I decided to look into it on this site. Well to my surprise it seems to be a common issue. At least common enough that there was a TSB about it.
This car has 39,000kms on it and I bought it from the dealership here. I took it in today and sure enough...needs new steering rack!! Good thing is I bought an extended warranty on it so it is covered. Although this was not a warranty I was planning on using in a week.

My question is...should this replacement be covered by the exisiting powertrain warranty? The dealer told me no. But on this post SteveTheTech says it is. I am basically livid about having to even replace it at all. The dealer will let me know in a week if they will actually pay for it.

Any insight would be great.

[blfstyk]

Steve knows far more about this subject than I ever will but I think he mistyped on this one. The steering wheel is not part of the powertrain (definition of the powertrain and parts covered can be found in the Warranty Booklet) and I seriously doubt it would be covered by the powertrain warranty. It should be covered by the 4-year basic coverage warranty, however, if that is still in effect.

[trevor-m]

The 4 year bumper to bumper expired 1 month before I bought the car. I did buy the extended warranty. I am just hoping that Infiniti realizes that they will lose a customer if they dont cover it. This was obviously an existing problem before i bought it.

[SteveTheTech]

The 4/60 warranty covers the rack. The original in service date of the vehicle is what determines the time frame on the 4 year part and 60k is well pretty cut and dry.

This was not a recall just an updated part. It may have been a known problem but if the original owner did not notice the noise there is little chance of goodwill consideration beyond the warranty period. Infiniti actually has more consideration when it comes to out of warranty repairs than many of the other high line manufacturers...however there is little you can do to influence the companies decision, it is mostly based on the overall history of the vehicle. Infiniti actually will pay for many things to keep out of warranty original owners happy. This is one of the areas where you original owners have the advantage say over someone who bought from a third party dealer.

If it is not too late I recommend as many of you as possible get an Elite warranty. I don't sell them or profit off them in any way (actually I get paid less typically on warranty repairs) it just saves allot of frustration and company bashing from people who are out of warranty.

[trevor-m]

I am not holding out hope that they will fix it out of goodwill. This is actually the 3rd Nissan product I have owned, I had a 350Z and currently have an Exterra. I had zero problems with either of those vehicles. If it was a few months after the fact I wouldnt be too angry about it, but the week I buy it is unnacceptable as far as I am concerned. Obviously the so called "inspection" was not that thorough as the tech who drove it yesterday didnt even need to leave the parking lot for him to hear it. And he knew what it was right away.
Well worse case I do have the Elite warranty. It just wasnt something I was planning on using the first week of ownership.

[SteveTheTech]

Well worse case I do have the Elite warranty. It just wasnt something I was planning on using the first week of ownership.

I completely understand buying what sounds like a CPO vehicle and having a noisy rack and pinion is not doing much to garner a bunch of confidence in your new to you vehicle.

To play devils advocate (not to support the used car evaluation process or the technician who performed that). The rack and pinion assembly is safe for operation and will pass a safety inspection. I am not 100% on the official policy but I can tell you from some of my experience is that warranty applied to a on used cars tend to raise several red flags. Something like a peeling piece of trim or roaring wheel bearing would not raise too many eyebrows.When you get into expensive (>$1,000) parts that cannot be tested outside of the vehicle for legitimacy and an add on (the computer system flags lines that are added to repair orders after they are generate) warranty line they tend to get looked at much closer and in some cases not paid for, and the dealer is charged back for the part and labor. This used to be a really dirty business and there is a very fine line that must be adhered to.

[ANBYOND]

The 4/60 warranty covers the rack. The original in service date of the vehicle is what determines the time frame on the 4 year part and 60k is well pretty cut and dry.

This was not a recall just an updated part. It may have been a known problem but if the original owner did not notice the noise there is little chance of goodwill consideration beyond the warranty period. Infiniti actually has more consideration when it comes to out of warranty repairs than many of the other high line manufacturers...however there is little you can do to influence the companies decision, it is mostly based on the overall history of the vehicle. Infiniti actually will pay for many things to keep out of warranty original owners happy. This is one of the areas where you original owners have the advantage say over someone who bought from a third party dealer.

If it is not too late I recommend as many of you as possible get an Elite warranty. I don't sell them or profit off them in any way (actually I get paid less typically on warranty repairs) it just saves allot of frustration and company bashing from people who are out of warranty.

The Infiniti extended warranty is too much $$. It would have been almost twice the price of the Honda Care ext warranty that was available on my 2011 Oddyssey Touring.. Apples to apples, no deductible, etc. Remember, the ext warranty is close to $2k (from the best quotes I got)with no deductible. I could put that same $2k towards repairs in the future. It's like rolling a dice with an ext warranty.

[trevor-m]

Well to my amazement Infiniti is going to replace the rack in good faith. It took 2 weeks for them to go through all the hoops, but in the end they came through and did the right thing. So I am a happy new Infiniti customer....now. Thanks to all the posts on this site I was able to find the service bulletins and used them to my defence that it was an existing problem that needed to be addressed.

[ewitz]

I bought a 2008 EX35 with 40,000 km that falls within the parameters of the TSB an is still under the original factory warranty. I know the original owner never had this work performed.

Should I be trying to get the steering rack replaced as a pre-emptive move against future issues? Would I be better off with the newer parts and the required re-alignment?

Just figure that I would be better off replacing the used parts with new ones and having the alignment redone.

[trevor-m]

I would at least inquire about it. They could either fix it now or at worst you have something on record that says you made the inquiry.

[AWGD8]

I bought a 2008 EX35 with 40,000 km that falls within the parameters of the TSB an is still under the original factory warranty. I know the original owner never had this work performed.

Should I be trying to get the steering rack replaced as a pre-emptive move against future issues? Would I be better off with the newer parts and the required re-alignment?

Just figure that I would be better off replacing the used parts with new ones and having the alignment redone.

I suggest ask your service advisor. I had my steering rack replaced due to some weird noise coming from the front tires while driving down the parking structure as the car turns right.

This service was done about 8+ months ago. I few days ago, my power steering was intermittently hard to turn or steer. I dropped the car off at my local dealership the next day and they said it was the power steering pump. They ordered the pump and replaced it, but a minor problem seems to persist. (Tech said pressure on the pump is not going high enough).
They finally concluded to change the whole steering rack again. So i just could not imagine paying parts and labor for this... Right now I only have 32.7k miles on my EX.
I`m really planning on buying an extended warranty before it hits 40K miles.

PM me if you need any info on how much an extended warranty <40K miles and >40K miles.

I`m not sure if i`m allowed to post the quote here. I guess most of you know the lady from Arizona how sells a decent price for Extended warranty. (Infiniti Warranty)

[morgan1130]

I suggest ask your service advisor. I had my steering rack replaced due to some weird noise coming from the front tires while driving down the parking structure as the car turns right.

This service was done about 8+ months ago. I few days ago, my power steering was intermittently hard to turn or steer...

Sounds like we might have the same problem.

Bought an used 2008EX and noticed very light grinding sound and vibration when turning right at low speed. (see my post above) Had the steering rack replaced 3 wks ago. One week after the job was done, I was driving down the parking, turning right and a loud grinding sound from the tires again and felt the steering wheel was vibrating and hard to make turns, the noise and shaking was much worse then before the rack got replaced.

At first I thought it might be something stuck under the car, since it disappeared after few turns, until 3 days ago it happened again in another parking...

I am not sure what should I tell the dealer or if they can pin the problem down, since it's not happening all the time, 3 weeks, many slow downhill right turns and only happened twice...

[AWGD8]

morgan1130:

I just got the car today and tech said they replaced the power steering pump and the steering assembly. So far so good, I don`t feel any vibration or resistance on the steering.

BTW, the first time my dealership fixed the steering rack 8+ months ago, once in awhile I still could sense weird noise coming from the front during slow right turn, but that time it was very subtle until it disappeared completely.

I`m just wondering if your service department did the front end alignment also when they replaced the steering rack?

[morgan1130]

morgan1130:
I`m just wondering if your service department did the front end alignment also when they replaced the steering rack?

On paper, it doesn't show the alignment has been done. Only replaced steering rack and steering assembly, plus steering flush.

I will probably wait for it to happened again and bring the car to dealer during the next regular service.

[ewitz]

I bought a 2008 EX35 with 40,000 km that falls within the parameters of the TSB an is still under the original factory warranty. I know the original owner never had this work performed.

Should I be trying to get the steering rack replaced as a pre-emptive move against future issues? Would I be better off with the newer parts and the required re-alignment?

Just figure that I would be better off replacing the used parts with new ones and having the alignment redone.

Had the steering rack replaced as per the TSB and while I was not experiencing the symptoms it did tighten up the steering. Also, they did the alignment so tire wear should be consistent.

Since it cost me nothing I figure I come out ahead.